20 Truths Tarnished Silver
by Athame Kunoichi
Summary: Written for 20 Truths on LJ Tenten seems like the perfect person, but everyone has their faults... a look into Tenten's strengths and weaknesses, and what makes her Tenten. Just 20 little things that make up Tenten of Team Gai


FYI, this is post-time skip, kk?

20 Truths- Tarnished Silver

20. Tenten is impulsive.

She does things in the first way she imagines them done in her head, almost without thought. Many think that this means she's quick-witted. It doesn't.

She knows it just means she relies on luck.

19. Tenten doesn't train enough.

After Naruto left to train, her entire team rocketed trough the Chuunin exams like it was nothing. That year's Genin were all pushovers, and several of Neji's opponents in the third round forfeited, fearing for their lives. Most of Lee's opponents laughed at him, and had their asses handed to them 2 minutes later.

All of Tenten's opponents almost beat her, but she used an impulsive surprise attack to defeat each of them.

Tenten didn't use a single new move.

She knows the only reason she won was because she didn't have to fight any elemental ninjutsu users.

She also knows that if she trains harder, she could easily become an ANBU in a few years. She could even get her own Genin team, which is something she's always wanted to do.

She hasn't increased her training at all in years.

18. Tenten will never be as strong as Neji.

She and Lee made it through the first round of the Jounin exam (Advanced Code Breaking) but they failed the second (Competition Retrieval).

Neji passed all three rounds with ease.

Tenten no longer trains with Neji. He now trains with Hiashi, and sometimes Hinata, who is closer to defeating him than Tenten, who trained with him for 3 years.

Neji has surpassed her indefinably, and she knows it.

18. Tenten hates Sakura.

After Tsunade's return, Tenten put so many hours into training that Lee had to take her to the hospital more than once. She combined almost every scroll she had into one, massive roll of weaponry. She almost got evicted from her apartment because she spent so much money on weapons that she had none left for rent. Neji spent so much time helping her with her foot work (she blackmailed him with pictures of his mom that she stole) that he actually improved a few of his worse stances.

For a month she did nothing but eat, sleep, and train.

When she asked Tsunade to accept her as an apprentice, Tsunade told her she'd consider it.

A week later, Tsunade announced that she'd taken Haruno Sakura as her apprentice.

Since then, Tenten has trained only minimally, and she impales a picture of Sakura with a kunai each night before going to sleep.

Tenten knows that Sakura had a better chance from the beginning.

She won't admit it.

17. Tenten has the ability to surpass Lee at Taijutsu.

As much as she relies on her weapons, she has exceptional martial arts skills. She uses them only when weapons aren't an option, but when she does resort to them, she is almost always successful.

When Gai discovered that she was just as competent at his favorite subject as his other 2 students, he immediately set up a new training program for her, and set up a new sparring schedule in such a way that all of his students would get an equal chance to fight each of the others, and everyone would have a chance to train with him personally.

Tenten told him she'd rather stick with weaponry.

She knows that, secretly, he would have been willing to teach her the hidden lotus.

She also knows that, with his help, she could have developed new skills that would enhance her weapons skills.

She knew it from day one.

16. Tenten doesn't know what the word 'love' really means.

She was taken out of the Konaha Orphanage at age 5 to begin Kunoichi training. She was never adopted.

The only boys that she knows are Iruka, Gai, Lee, Kakashi, Neji, Sarutobi, and Naruto. She has never fallen in love.

Tenten has sparred with Ino, Sakura, Temari, and Hinata. She has never had a best friend. Or even a real friend of the same gender.

Tenten knows that if she bothered to attend some of the joint training sessions that are held each week, she might be able to find someone to spar with other that chakra-automated dolls. She also knows that having a friend could help her ease the loneliness of her free time.

She tells herself that it isn't necessary.

15. Tenten is far too good at lying.

She lies to her team when she's feeling ill. She's never taken a sick day.

She lies to Tsunade about the severity of her wounds when Gai drags her, kicking and screaming, to the hospital to have training wounds looked at.

She lies to Naruto, who lives in the same apartment complex as her, when he asks if she wants to join him and the other former rookies at Ichiraku's.

She lies to herself about everything.

14. Tenten is immature.

She gets upset over the littlest things, and holds the ugliest of grudges.

She's forgetful, and almost never finishes what she starts.

She fools around too much during Gai's lectures, and ignores Lee when he's talking, even if he's serious.

It's a cover up for her insecurities, and she knows it.

13. Tenten is single minded.

During a mission, she focuses her entire being on her task, and never get's distracted. She gives each assignment her all, and doesn't stop trying until her body gives out.

She keeps trying different moves until she knows her opponent's reactions so well that she's permanently one step ahead of them.

If she has to, she'll forget about pity and restraint until her opponent is dead.

Part of her loves fighting to the point of inhumanity, and she knows it.

12. Somewhere in the back oh her mind, Tenten is afraid of people.

She shies away from them out of fear that she'll give away her greatest weakness, and be ruined.

She's afraid of rejection, and she knows it.

11. Tenten wants to fly.

All of her Taijutsu focuses of leaping, spinning, or jumping and some of her best weapons attacks require a jump from a high place, or an incredibly high leap.

Tenten loves the sky, and the air. Someday she hopes to discover a jutsu that will let her fly, like the one she learned about in Hoshikagakure.

Tenten wants to see what's beyond the silken sheet of blue that cages the world.

She want's something more.

10. Tenten is afraid of water.

She has dreams of drowning, of being swallowed up by something she has no control over, of being forgotten as she sinks under the waves and into the darkness at the bottom of the world.

What Tenten doesn't know it that the only thing she _really_ fears

is herself.

9. Tenten is adaptive.

She can abandon a plan as quickly as Shikamaru can create one, and she can improvise better than anyone else on her team. Unlike the others, she can see through the flaws of her opponent, and change her objective faster than her opponent can change their method.

She thinks it's just luck.

8. Tenten is always prepared for a mission.

She packs more than anyone else on her team, and puts things in her teammate's bags if they forget something.

The Nunchaku Gai used on their mission to rescue Gaara had been packed by Tenten.

Tenten puts at least one of every kind of weapon in her scroll. She also keeps smaller scrolls with more weapons, sorted by type.

When she battled the clay Tenten clone on the mission to rescue Gaara, she only won so quickly because the clone couldn't copy all her weapons fast enough.

She thought the clone just didn't have enough chakra in it to keep up its counterattacks.

7. Tenten is rational.

Where others would panic and start wildly using attacks that would never work, or freeze up, Tenten cuts herself from all emotion except determination.

She can kill her own fears faster than Lee can run without his weights on. She knows better than to let anger or despair control her, but she also knows that a mission taken on by Shinobi without an emotionally driven purpose will always fail.

She thinks she's just too rash.

6. Tenten is indiscriminate.

If forced to pick which of 3 innocent hostages to save, she would risk her life to save all 3.

If assigned to protect someone, she'll protect them with her life, no matter what she thinks of them. She considers all people equals, regardless of personality, Village affiliation, ninja rank, or even percentage of pure human DNA.

She thinks she's just socially inept.

5. Tenten is selective.

When buying weapons, she never considers cost, only quality, practicality, application, and effectiveness.

On missions, she only follows through on a course of action if it's better than the other 20 or so that she compares it to.

She does nothing unless she's sure she'll succeed.

She thinks she's just overly picky.

4. Tenten is a gambler.

She's willing to risk everything she has on one objective. She'd bet every weapon in her arsenal on a single attack if she thought it would be in good use. Even if the outcome of a course of action is unsure as far as its affects on her, she'd go through with it anyway, for the thrill of the chance, and the sake of her teammates.

She thinks she's just too gutsy.

3. Tenten is compassionate.

She values her team more than anything in the world, and she's willing to fight her way through all of Otogakure and Akatsuki to ensure their safekeeping. If she had to, she'd take on every kage at once to save them.

She thinks she's just clingy.

2. Tenten loves the world.

She can sit for hours and simply appreciate the wind, the plants, the sky…

Her village, the people in it, her small part to play in it…

The chance she's been given to make things better for others.

Tenten loves every second of every day, every experience, every emotion, every idea and concept.

She loves every part of it, and she never wants to let it go.

She thinks she's just a coward.

1. Tenten will never be the best Kunoichi, because there is no fair way to judge one person from another.

She will never leave a permanent mark on the world, because there is no such thing as permanence.

She will never overcome every one of her faults, because there is no such thing as a perfect person.

She is only a human.

She is only real.

But she is better than she knows at being who she is.

And everyone knows it.


End file.
